John le Moine
JOHN LE MOINE
Cardinal and canonist; b. Crécyen-Ponthieu (northern France), c. 1250; d. Avignon, 1313. He studied philosophy and theology in Paris and was also a doctor in utroque iure. For a time an auditor of the Rota, he was dean of the Church of Bayeux from 1288 to 1292. Celestine V named him cardinal, which is why authors often refer to him simply as Cardinalis. Under Boniface VIII he became vice chancellor of the Roman Church. He was also called to fulfill important diplomatic missions, particularly during the great controversies between Philip IV (the Fair) of France and the Holy See. As a canonist, John is known above all for his Apparatus (1301) on the liber sextus of Boniface VIII (1298), of which there are many manuscripts and printed editions (e.g., Paris 1535; Venice 1585, 1602). He also glossed some later constitutions of Boniface VIII and Benedict XI. A sagacious jurist, experienced in controversies, quick to reconcile opposing issues, he developed an important theory on the constitution and rights of the College of Cardinals.
Bibliography: g. a. digard, Philippe le Bel et le Saint-siège de 1285 à 1304, 2 v. (Paris 1936) 1:140–142, 157–159. a. vanhove, Commentarium Lovaniense in Codicem iuris canonici 1, v. 1–5 (Mechlin 1928—) 1:474–476. b. tierney, Foundations of the Conciliar Theory (Cambridge, Eng. 1955) 180–191, 208–209. Dictionnaire de droit canonique, ed. r. naz, 7 v. (Paris 1935–65) 6:112–113.
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